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South Africa has been struggling for years to overhaul its state-power company which is plagued by corruption and mismanagement and reeling under a 400 billion rand ($23.3 billion) debt pile. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Reuters last week he was "sharpening his pencil" to provide details, so far scarce, for taking on between one- and two-thirds of Eskom's debt in his Feb. 22 budget presentation. Eskom's debt pile is not just big, it is also complex. Another 15% is international bonds, held by global asset managers such as PIMCO, BlackRock and Fidelity, according to recent filings. Eskom's international bonds could rally if the government takes on two-thirds of the debt, Wolman said, while limiting that to one third or carrying out the debt transfer over a long period of time could be negative.

☆ Malawi delays reopening schools as cholera cases surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Pilirani Wanja, a clinician at Ndirande Health Centre, demonstrates to clients how to take the cholera vaccine in response to the latest cholera outbreak in Blantyre, Malawi, November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Eldson ChagaraBLANTYRE, Malawi, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Malawi has delayed the opening of public schools in the southern African country's two major cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, the health minister said Monday, to try to slow down a surge in cholera deaths. Cholera is an annual problem during Malawi's rainy months from November to March, where the number of deaths is around 100 a year. The global stockpile of cholera vaccines the World Health Organization helps manage is "currently empty or extremely low", a WHO official said last month amid a resurgence of the disease. Chiponda called on authorities to tighten control measures, including spraying chlorine to disinfect congested places such as markets and schools and stepping up inoculations.

☆ South Africa's Ramaphosa: ANC executive to decide my fate
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 4 (Reuters) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday it was up to the governing party's National Executive Committee (NEC) to decide his future in the face of allegations of misconduct against him. Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes. The president's allies have rallied around him and on Saturday his spokesman said he would not resign. The governing African National Congress (ANC) party's National Working Committee (NWC) was meeting in Johannesburg on Sunday to discuss the panel's report. "It is up to the National Executive Committee, to which I am accountable, to take whatever decision (it deems fit)."

☆ South Africa's ruling ANC to meet on Sunday to discuss president's fate
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 3 (Reuters) - South Africa's African National Congress will meet on Sunday, it said on Saturday, to continue a meeting it halted midway on Friday to discuss the future of President Cyril Ramaphosa who has been suspected of misconduct. An enquiry by an independent parliamentary panel found that Ramaphosa might have committed misconduct when investigations revealed that he kept millions of dollars in cash at his private game farm. The president has denied any wrongdoing. Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ South Africa's Ramaphosa will not resign, spokesperson says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 3 (Reuters) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will not resign and will seek a second term as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) after allies rallied behind him to stay on, a spokesperson from the president's office said on Saturday. "President Ramaphosa is not resigning based on a flawed report, neither is he stepping aside," Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told journalists by text message. Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes. The president would challenge the report and its findings, the spokesperson said. "It is in the long term interest and sustainability of our constitutional democracy... that such a clearly flawed report is challenged."

☆ Buses set on fire in South Africa's Cape Town as taxi strike starts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CAPE TOWN, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Two buses were set on fire on Monday in South Africa's Cape Town as local taxi associations embarked on a two-day strike to protest against a termination of an incentive program. The Western Cape provincial government, home to legislative capital Cape Town, recently announced it would terminate an incentive scheme for taxi drivers which encouraged safe driving practises and curtailed illegal operations. But due to a lack of funding it had to cancel the programme after a little more than a year, triggering an uproar from the taxi associations who called for a two-day strike in the city from Monday. [1/6] People walk past a torched bus during a two-day strike by taxi operators over a number of grievances against traffic authorities in Cape Town, South Africa, November 21, 2022. "No passengers or drivers were injured," Bronwen Dyke-Beyer, a spokesperson of Golden Arrow Bus Services, which runs a fleet of 1,100 buses in Cape Town, told Reuters, confirming that a one of its buses was set alight.

Three quarters of cars produced by South Africa's auto industry, which accounts for 5% of gross domestic product and over 100,000 jobs, are exported, mostly to European countries. Martina Biene, Volkswagen South Africa's new managing director, told Reuters the company's manufacturing facilities in the country do not plan an immediate pivot to producing electric vehicles. "I think by 2035 there will be production of electric vehicles in Africa ... but in the meantime we will export probably less to Europe than other countries." Volkswagen South Africa produced over 129,000 vehicles last year along with more than 58,000 engines, mostly destined for exports. That would focus on selling South African-manufactured petrol and diesel vehicles in most markets and imported EVs in countries like Mauritius, Cape Verde and South Africa as demand for more environmentally friendly cars picks up there.

☆ South African pay TV group Multichoice posts loss in first half
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 10 (Reuters) - South African pay TV company Multichoice Group (MCGJ.J) said on Thursday it made a loss in the first half due to an upfront investment in services and offerings it made before the soccer World Cup that starts later in November. The company has exclusive rights to broadcast the sporting extravaganza in Africa. For the half year ended Sept. 30, its headline loss per share, the main measure of earnings in South Africa, was at 58 South African cents, down from 356 cents posted in the same period of last year. Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Walmart doubles down on Africa despite a decade of frustration
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Nqobile Dludla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

A shopper pushes a trolley as she leaves a Builders Warehouse store owned by Walmart-led Massmart Holdings in South Africa, at Gleneagles, in the south of Johannesburg, South Africa, October 20, 2022. Instead, Massmart's units outside South Africa struggled with foreign exchange risk, tricky regulatory environments and macroeconomic volatility. Earlier this year, an internal Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) memo detailing its expansion plans, including a maiden foray onto the continent via South Africa, leaked to media. The pending battle with its global rival looms over Walmart's e-commerce strategy for Massmart, several shareholders told Reuters. While Walmart can now firmly set the direction at its South African unit, its track record outside the United States is spotty.

☆ South Africa's Telkom says bigger rival MTN has terminated buyout talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | David Carnevali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 19 (Reuters) - South African mobile operator Telkom (TKGJ.J) said on Wednesday bigger rival MTN Group (MTNJ.J) had terminated talks to buy the former in what would have created the country's biggest telecoms company. Telkom said it could not offer MTN assurances to enter into exclusive talks sought by the country's second biggest telecoms service provider. It withdrew the offer later only to come back last month with a revised offer asking Telkom to buy it out. "MTN terminated discussions... as Telkom was not in a position to provide MTN with assurances around exclusivity," Telkom said in a statement. The talks between Telkom and MTN were at an early stage and had not progressed to due diligence, Telkom said, adding that it had not received any binding offer from MTN.

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